Site History
I first opened this site in 1998 on GeoCities under the name The Metallium Shrine. It was meant to be a shrine to both Xelloss and Zellas, and contained quite a bit of misinformation. The layout featured the only picture of Zellas I had at the time, the image of her legs from the ending of NEXT. Beautiful legs though they are, it wasn't really a good layout image. Nonetheless, I got some positive feedback for my work and was encouraged to continue expanding.
However, there were quite a few Xelloss shrines already gracing the web, and I found I couldn't make my own without feeling like I was simply stealing from everyone else and compiling their hard work. Not to mention that my fascination with Zellas was growing as her mystery intrigued me more and more. Inevitably, I dropped Xelloss from the site (as much as I did and still love him) and dedicated the shrine solely to Zellas. It then became the first, and then only existing shrine to Zellas on the web. It was also at that point that I changed the name from The Metallium Shrine to The Greater Beast.
The Greater Beast's first layout was a great success, and even though my skills in design have improved vastly since, I still like it to this day. It was a simple layout, featuring small images of Zellas that served as both the driving visual feature of the site and the alternate navigation. I began improving the content as well, adding information and correcting old info as I went along. I also created my first two fan arts of Zellas and began collecting art by others. Slowly but surely, I was beginning to uncover the small, secret Zellas fandom on the web that took a back seat to Xelloss, and I began bringing it more out into the open.
About a year later, I managed to get my hands on Slayers Novel #15, the one novel in which Zellas is mentioned, and was both surprised and supremely pleased to find an illustration featuring two of the most illusive Mazoku in the Slayers universe- Deep Sea Dolphin and Zellas Metallium. Having the only official picture of Zellas in my hands was more than a little exciting. I quickly scanned it in and colored it to use in a brand new layout, a layout that flew from my brain to the computer screen in no time flat. It was one of the best layouts I had made to date. With a great sense of pride, I published it to the net, organized all my content, added some new things, and gave my site a fresh new feel.
That layout stuck around for a little over two years, in which time my shrine was moved multiple times until finally settling down at its new home, Mazoku.org. Mazoku.org is a domain that I share and run with my best friend Tasuki, dedicated to collecting and showing off top-notch Slayers sites and building a friendly Slayers community.
In February of 2004, I uploaded my fourth layout, featuring my latest and best fan art of Zellas and a design that I took great care to make unique and interesting. I added a few sections, polished up some of the older sections, and added a fanlisting in place of the defunct fan club.
In February of 2006, the site got another big update. I created the site's first fully XHTML and CSS compliant layout, making it easier for people on all browsers to see it as I intended it to be seen. I also added new media, and polished up the information once again.
This site is my baby, and I feel great pride in the fact that I could create such a large shrine to such an overlooked and under-appreciated character. In these past years, Zellas has become one of my few absolutely favorite characters, outshining even my love for Xelloss, and yet she's still as mysterious as ever. But that's what I've always loved about Zellas- no matter how long I hunt down information, and no matter how much I add to this shrine, there will always be a thousand more things I'll never know about her.
